Mechanist's Flutter

by ZekeDraco

Part 02.1: Initial Observation: Day 1

[Mechanist's Flutter Part 2]
[Initial Observations: Day 1]

[Rather empty if you ask me]

Looking around she could see nothing but what seemed like a teal colored fog. There was no sun or light source around her but she could see herself. She lightly kicked at the non-existent ground with a metallic silver hoof, causing the void under her to crack and drop her into a freefall. As she fell her pink mane drifted fluidly through the air, as she tumbled she could see the reflections of her face on her silver flank, covered in soft-yellow fur with cyan eyes. She tried to use her wings, the steel blades unfurling and flapping futilely. She opened her mouth, trying to call out for her friends, but she could only hear a squeak. It echoed along invisible walls, eventually becoming mixed with a sad voice saying "Good...night...gentle mare." Now, she truly felt alone, even if she was not the real Fluttershy, she wanted to be with the friends she knew. She closed her eyes and in a panicked voice shouted, "I want to go home!"

She no longer felt like she was falling, she opened her eyes and saw that she was standing outside of Fluttershy's cottage. Every detail she knew was intact, the chicken coop was even in use by clucking hens. She went to the front door of the cottage and opened it, and wandered inside. She could see some of the things she was familiar with, a sports helmet, water wings, and the remains of a failed table repair. She recognized them as her mind went to the memories from the show. With a tone of disbelief, she muttered under her breath, "Cutie Mark Carpenters?"

[A coffee-scented encounter?]

She exited the cottage and lifted up into the air, after gaining enough altitude she began to look around. She saw the distant capitol of Canterlot, the Everfree Forest, and even Ponyville. She smiled a little before flying towards the peaceful town. She approached Ponyville admiring the warmth of the sun, and the clear skies. The smell of rain was lingering in the air as Celestia's sun had risen just above the mountains, she could even see some pegasi still moving away light rain clouds. She descended into Ponyville and started to wander around, mentally asking herself questions as she saw everypony talking to each other or running errands. The questions started off as expected, "What's going on here?", "Is this real?", and to top it off "What do I do?" The questions piled up more and more as she trotted along until they all spontaneously combusted.

The voice of a mare who had apparently been living off of exorbitant amounts of coffee and few hours of sleep came from behind Flutter asking, "Fluttershy? Is that you?"

Flutter quieted a squeak, and then turned to a lavender colored mare hiding her surprise. "O-of course, I could never be anypony else..."

Tilting her body to the side a little Twilight looked at Flutter's mechanical construct, "Okaaay... Why are you dressed like that?"

Flutter looked back where Twilight had looked, and realized her wings were spread by instinct, "Uhm...I was...", she shuffled her hoof on the ground, "...was...going to a...costume party?"

Twilight sported her not-amused look, she knew she was being lied to but didn't feel like calling the bluff directly. "As...What?"

Flutter froze up, her mind reading through memories as fast as it could, "Uhm... I...", BINGO the thought was synthesized, "One of the...Warcolts from before Celestia and Luna brought Harmony to Equestria."

Twilight looked at Flutter a moment, Flutter couldn't have done research into that without her knowing, she lived in the library after all.

This was making Flutter nervous, so she diverted her sight to the pink stripe in Twilight's mane and inched backwards a little, "It was... Rainbow's idea..."

This little fact only dug Flutter deeper into a hole, Rainbow Dash never did anything with books, except knock them off shelves. Twilight didn't want to see how deep the hole went, "Say Fluttershy, I was going to ask you to help me clean the library but you've got on your...costume... and ... ooh ... It looks so impractical..."

Flutter twitched her ear, "Uhm...as much as I would like to...uhm...help you Twilight...but I-I...think I hear my laundry calling." With that the machination ran with all her might, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Once the dust cloud cleared, Twilight stared where Flutter used to be for a moment, "Didn't I use that excuse?"

[Encounter with more than one Pie]

Flutter came to a stop nearly on the other side of Ponyville, standing on her hind legs with her back pressed against the wall of a building. She wasn't actually breathing hard, just simulating it. Once she stopped she peeked around the corner, unwittingly touching muzzle to muzzle with a Pink Party Pony, who quickly shouted, "SURPRISE!"

"EEEK!", Flutter jumped into the air passing through a cloud and the lemon meringue pie that a blue maned pegasus in a Wonderbolts uniform was about to eat. She landed on the ground with a yellow mane and a white body, as the Pegasus above shouted, "My Pie!"

"Hi Fluttershy, you're pretty wound up today!", Pinkie said with a smile.

"Oh...just a little..." She said. Shaking off the surprise color scheme, she accidentally splashed Pinkie with a cloud beard, and a pie tin cap.

"Little? You're makin' me look calmer than Twilight." Pinkie smiled and the cloud beard followed suit, only to be dispersed by a gasp. "You know what? You need a party to calm you down! One of Auntie Pinkie Pie's super-duper-parties!"

On reflex Flutter muttered, "I'm a year older than you."

Pinkie didn't hear it, "Gonna get balloons, confetti, fireworks! Well maybe not fireworks. Cake, punch~"

As Pinkie kept building more into a party frenzy listing different things off, including some things that would make Seuss and Douglas Adams both pause and wonder, Flutter simply inched away out of sight.

Pinkie finished up her list by saying, "And to top it off some pin the tail on the...pony? Hey where'd you go?"

[Oy in the sky]

Flutter landed on a cloud, and laid down. Looking around she could see she had miles between her and--

"Hey, Flutter."

She winced and turned to look at the colorfully maned, Rainbow Dash. "Hi..."

"What're you doin' up here? Don't you need to be watching your animals?" Rainbow's Rose eyes had locked onto Flutter.

"They will be alright... For a little while."

"Okay. What's with the metal? Going into the Everfree Forest or somethin'?" Rainbow moved closer.

Flutter moved back just as far, "Uhm....maybe?"

Rainbow looked at Flutter curiously, "Y'know, you're not a fast flier, and that looks pretty heavy... Hay, even I would have problems with that."

"I got up here....didn't I?" Flutter responded.

"I'll give you that, but how long did it take you?"

"A few seconds...I think..."

"Really? Show me." Rainbow crossed her front hooves, sitting on her haunches expecting a show.

Flutter was happy that Rainbow bought into the 'wearing metal' bit so quickly, but hid her grin. "O...ok"

She poked her head through the cloud real quick and saw that Pinkie Pie had moved on, getting a laugh out of Twilight with a crazy shenanigan involving Gummy, a roll of tape and more confetti than you could shake a stick at.

"Well?", Rainbow's voice demanded.

Flutter jumped down and landed on the ground, then flew back up in about 5 seconds. She landed on the cloud and looked at Rainbow, "How...how was that?"

"Not bad, could've been a little quicker. Lemme show you how it's done."

Flutter scooted back a little expecting Rainbow to show off. And boy did she, Rainbow went to the ground and back up in 2 Seconds. "Way to go Rainbow..."

Rainbow hovered in the air and grinned.

"That was 250% faster than my time" Flutter grinned, then realized she did some math.

"And 20% Cooler" Rainbow added.

Flutter smiled a little, Rainbow didn't catch on that she--

"Wait '250% faster'?" Rainbow asked

Flutter squeaked, "Lucky guess?"

"We'd have to ask Twilight."

Flutter blurted out, "Or Big Macintosh.", then covered her mouth with her hooves.

Rainbow looked at her a moment, "I guess, but we can do that later, I've gotta go get a sneaky little rain cloud."

Flutter looked around and saw a little black rain cloud slowly coasting over Ponyville.

"There you are!" Rainbow took off to pursue it, as it attempted to make a....fly for it.

Flutter was happy that Rainbow was being Rainbow, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something else was brewing.

[Meanwhile... At the Legion of...erm...The Library]

Twilight was in the main room of the library, her face buried in different books about Pre-Celestia history of Equestria. Spike reached for one last book on the top shelf, and the front door slammed open costing him his balance. Rainbow Dash and Applejack both slid to a stop in front of Twilight, they looked at each other under their respective hats, before Rainbow realized she was wearing a Dragon.

Rainbow was first to say it, "I was first!"

Applejack refuted as Spike climbed off of Rainbow's head, "No, ah was!"

Twilight looked up from the book, "Seriously, another race?"

Rainbow hovered in the air and crossed her forelegs, "And I won."

Applejack just rolled her eyes, "And I did the whole apple harvest by myself..."

Rainbow landed with enough force to shake the sarcasm from the air, and stared daggers right into Applejack's eyes, "You wanna go?"

"Anytime, anywhere, sugarcube."

"GIRLS!", Twilight shouted, "There's no time for this, we need to find out what's going on!"

A cultivated trans-Atlantic voice, matching its upper-class owner sounded, "What ever is going on here?"

AJ looked at Rarity then to Twilight, "Twi? What're we lookin' into?"

Twilight finally had the floor, "Well, there's something going on with Fluttershy."

Rarity simply had to ask, "You're talking about that awful ensemble she's wearing?"

"Well, partly, yeah."

"She just needs something more befitting of her."

AJ rolled her eyes and asked, "Like what?"

"Well, for starters. Almost anything is more fashionable than what she has now."

Twilight interrupted, "It's not all about what she's wearing."

Rarity looked at her for a moment.

Twilight continued, "It's the way she's been acting all day, she's been running away from anypony who has tried to talk to her. Even quicker if they ask her why she's dressed like she is."

Pinkie Pie adds in her comment, appearing from nowhere, "She even left me behind when I tried to set her up a party."

"The way she tried to make it sound, she was going to a costume party as a Pre-Celestia Warcolt, something suggested to her by Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow twitched, "I didn't suggest any costumes for her. The most I did with her today was show her that her Everfree Forest armor was slowing her down."

Applejack pushed in, "Everfree Forest armor?"

Rainbow scratched at the back of her neck, "That's what I woulda figured, it only took her around 5 seconds for her to jump off the cloud we were on and fly back up."

Twilight raised a brow, "5 Seconds? In metal armor? Judging by how heavy it looked, even you wouldn't be that quick, Rainbow. Even then, I don't think Flutter would be that quick to get onto a cloud without you pulling her, without the armor."

"Sounds to me like somethin awful fishy's goin' on with Fluttershy." Applejack adds.

Pinkie jumps in, "Oh, OH! Maybe she's taming a Manticore? Maybe she's friends with a dragon! I KNOW! Maybe she's been replaced by an eeeeevil mechanical copy!"

The other four stare at her for a moment, "NAH!"

[Cottage Geez]

Flutter had managed to stay out of the way of everypony else and now the princesses were moving their respective celestial bodies into place for night time. Her method of hiding actually did very well, as she poked her head out from underneath the cloud that she had burrowed into. Looking in every direction she made sure everypony was either at home, or heading home. The Carousel Boutique was dark, the Cakes were cleaning up shop for the night, the Library was only lit by one little candle, and Big Macintosh was watching the stars with Granny Smith asleep in her rocker next to him. Flutter pulled her head back into the cloud and unburied herself, looking up for any pegasi that happened to be going overhead. Nopony, she was in the clear and took the opportunity to land on the ground. Between where she landed and her cottage, she encountered only a mysterious vanishing blue box. She walked along the bridge to her cottage and paused, something was not right. She could hear Elizabeak and the other chickens rustling their feathers in preparation for the cold night ahead. The birds in the trees were also nestled together, forming rainbow colored balls of feathers on branches and in nests.

"None of the animals are alert", she thought to herself before she started to push the door open.

The table inside fell over and the sound of somepony jumping could be heard. She stopped pushing on the door and listened as it slowed to a stop a third of the way open. She stood there, waiting.

"Guess it was the wind", a book smart voice muttered.

A southern voice followed, "Ah assume th' wind also knocked over that table."

"Very funny", a disgruntled tomboyish voice replied.

From behind Flutter, an excited voice yelled, "Surprise, Again!"

The look on Flutter's face was a look of absolute surprise. Flutter rocketed forward into the cottage crashing into the other mares within. A crash, a thud, a whumpf, and a tumble could be heard in the darkness. The room was quickly illuminated by Rarity, who had lit the lantern hanging from the ceiling with a magic spark.

"I must say, that it is such a relief not to be standing around in the dark." She commented, prior to looking at a heap of mares consisting of Rainbow, Applejack, Flutter, Twilight, and somehow Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie laughed, "Let's do that again!"

Twilight pulled herself from under the party pony, "Let's not and say we did."

"Okie-dokie-loki. Wasn't it great doing that twice!"

The distinct sound of a hoof impacting the forehead of a lavender unicorn was followed with a groan, "Can we just try to figure out what's going on?"

In the blink of an eye Applejack managed to pull herself from under Flutter and place her Stetson back on straight. This left Flutter unsupported to fall onto Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow just looked up, "You mind gettin' off of me?"

Flutter jumped up, "I'm sorry..."

Rainbow Dash managed to dust herself off as Flutter looked around, the 5 mares had surrounded her, AJ and Rainbow were blocking windows, Rarity and Pinkie were blocking emergency hiding places, and Twilight was at the front door watching Flutter.

"Fluttershy, we're worried. You've been acting strange all day. Why? Are you worried about something? Is somepony stalking you? What's going on?" Twilight asked.

Rainbow jumped in, "Yeah. What's with the armor?"

Flutter just backed down in whatever direction she could, she could see even the concerned look forming over Pinkie's smile. She starts stuttering, "I..."

She looked at the calm dismay on Applejack's face, "I..."

She looked to Rarity's slightly confused concern, "I..."

She looked to the grim determination on Twilight's face, "I..."

Finally she looked at the curious worry in Rainbow's eyes.

Twilight took a step towards Flutter, who let out a squeak before hiding behind Dash.

Rainbow looked at her, "What the?"

The look of fear and sadness on Flutter's face made Rainbow think back to the time she saved Fluttershy from being ridiculed at Summer Flight Camp. "Guys, maybe we should leave her alone..."

Twilight looked at Rainbow, "Why? We might be able to help her."

Rainbow glared at Twilight, "I'll stay here, the rest of you go..."

Twilight scooted back, "I-if you insist."

Applejack intervened, "What in tarnation has got you so giddy?"

Rainbow spread her wings and stared Applejack down, "Pegasus business, go away!"

Rarity saw the fire in Rainbow's eyes, to her they went from Rose to a Searing Red, "Applejack, we should do as she says, it sounds important. You too Pinkie Pie."

Pinkie walked past Applejack, her mane losing a little of its poof, "Come on, we can go do something else."

Applejack walked away following Pinkie, Rarity and Twi.

The cottage door closed, leaving only the machination and her rainbow maned friend. What just happened needed time to sink in, something that felt like it took longer than it should have. Finally, Rainbow let her wings fold back against her sides, "It didn't feel right to do that, but they shouldn't have been ganging up on you like that."

Flutter looked up at Rainbow, "Th-thank you..."

"I haven't seen you that scared since we went to go kick that dragon out. It's not fair that we'd make you feel that way! I mean, what could have you wearing armor?"

Flutter felt most comfortable around Rainbow Dash, because she didn't seem to care too much about why she looked different. She started slowly, "Well...you see... I'm...", Flutter's line turned into a squeak.

"You're a what? A spy?", Rainbow joked.

"I'm not...", she trailed off into a mumble

"Hey, remember the basics behind a good cheer"

"I'm not...", the mumble was a little louder but still inaudible

"Louder..."

"I'm not...Fluttershy", she finally said.

Rainbow kept a serious look for a moment then fell over laughing. "You've got to be kidding me, nopony could imitate you!"

Flutter just looked a bit surprised for a moment, "No...really, I'm not her."

Rainbow just laughed harder, "Whe-When'd you become a comedian, Flutter?"

A minute passed and Rainbow pulled herself together, the eerie silence returning.

Rainbow caught her breath, "Seriously, if you aren't her you'd have to have some proof....right?"

Flutter thought for a moment, and within moments a process or two cranked out an idea, "I know..."

"Huh?"

Flutter lifted off the ground, not using her wings and made a portion of her torso open revealing to the Cyan Pegasus a neatly arranged series of cables and circuits, with a glowing blue power-core in the middle. After a few seconds Flutter closed up and landed, "See?"

Rainbow just stood there looking completely shocked and awestruck.

Flutter shied away a little, "I'm not even a Pegasus...Mr. Morris said I was a machine..."

"This...is...soooooo awesome!" Rainbow went into her fangirl squeal.

Flutter looked at Rainbow, "Awesome? Rainbow?"

"But...I gotta ask, where's the real Fluttershy?"

"I don't know.", Flutter responded

"Well, we oughta go find this Morris pony and teach him a lesson, he might know!"

"I don't know where he is either, I woke up outside the front door to her cottage. After some sort of falling..."

"Hmmmm... We've gotta figure out something... The real Fluttershy could be in danger."

"You're taking this awfully well."

"Why shouldn't I? Now there's two Fluttershy's, one more awesome than the other! Wait...You aren't evil or something, are you?"

"OH! No! I don't want to cause any trouble..."

Rainbow scratched the back of her head, "I guess Pinkie was wrong about that..."

Flutter kicked at the ground a little, "Could you...not tell the others?"

Rainbow looked at her, "Why not?"

"Well, I...I don't want them to worry...and I don't want everypony knowing what I am..."

"Why don't you want anypony else knowing what you are?"

"Are there any other machine ponies out there?"

"Uhm....Good point...Alright, I'll keep it a secret. But you've gotta promise me we'll find the real Fluttershy, deal?"

"Deal!"

[How touching, it seems amongst all this mess, the little falsity has made herself a friend. I desire to see just how far she can go before everything starts falling to pieces. Hm? The Father Program... Looks as though I need to bother her... Hurry up and go to bed, "Fluttershy", we need to discuss things...]